Fabric mending device



. 1942- c. PATASN'IK 2,305,105

' FABRIC MENDING DEVICE Filed Nov. 25, 1940- INVENTOR I harlg F has ik ATTORN Patented Dec. 15, 1942 1 UNlTED STATES. PATENT OFFICE Application November 25, 1940, Serial No. 367,034

6 Claims.

This invention relates to apparatus for mending fabric textile articles and more particularly for mending rips in articles such as shirts, collars, sheets, orthe like.

Cloth tape, one side of which is gummed so that it may be permanently secured to a piece of fabric cloth by hot pressing it thereon, is well known. When such tape is hot pressed to the cloth it will adhere thereto with very great tenacity and will not come off in ordinary washing or laundering of the cloth. It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide a device which will facilitate hot pressing of such tape onto fabric, a main purpose of the invention being to facilitate such hot pressing whereby if an operator discovers a rip or tear in a garment while pressing the garment, the operator can readily and quickly hot press a piece of this tape onto the garment at the rip to mend the garment. In accordance with the principles of the present invention an ordinary flat iron, of the electric or other type, used for pressing shirts or the like, is provided with means for holding a roll of tape of the kind that can be hot pressed onto an article being pressed, and means for facilitating pressing a piece of that tape in place and cutting it from the rest of the roll. The tape feeding device has an outlet immediately adjacent the front of the iron so that if the end of the piece of tape is placed in-contact with the fabric being ironed and the front of the iron is advanced over the piece of tape, further advance of the iron will automatically cause feeding of the tape. The operator continues this to the extent of the tear or rip in the garment to be mended and then, by a simple operation of a lever, cuts the tape and continues with the ordinary ironing operations.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present invention will be. apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

Figure 1 is a side view of a standard type of electric flat iron to which the present invention has been applied;

Figure 2 is a front view of the iron of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2 and looking in the direction of the arrows with the knife shown in elevation;

Figure 4 is a top view of the tape feeding mechanism of Figure 1, said view being taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 1; and

Figure 5 is a view of the tape feedingmech'anism taken along the line 5-4: of Figure 1.

Reference may now be had more particularly to the drawing.- In the drawing there is illustrated at l a standard type of electric flat iron or sad iron having a pressing surface 2 which tapers to a point at 3, and includes a male member 4 of an electric plug and socket combination, and a handle 6. This is merely one standard type of electric fiat iron to which the present invention is applicable. A roll of tape 8 is supported between a pair of arms 9-1-9 from the handle of the iron. The arms 9-9 may be ordinary spring metal and secured to the handle 6 by a bolt 10 which ordinarily secures the handle 6 to the upstanding arms l|.ll that secure the handle to the flat iron. The arms I l- -I'| are part of a U-shaped bracket I2 that is secured to the fiat iron in any desired manner, as by screws l3-l3. These same screws serve also to secure a metal strip M to the iron. The strip includes a horizontal portion centered on the iron and a downwardly extendingportion l6 which extends over the nose portion I! of the iron and is slightly spaced above the same. The downwardly extending portion [6 serves as a support for a tape feeding and cutting mechanism 20 that is secured thereto as by two screws. The foremost and lowermost end of the angular portion I6 is curved along a smooth curve- I8 and terminates at a level very slightly above the plane of the pressing surface 2 of the iron.

The feeding and cutting mechanism 29 includes a knurled cylinder 22 mounted on a pair of arms 23 which are pivoted on opposite sides of the mechanism 20 as by pivotscrews 24. A fiat leaf spring 25 presses each arm 23 downwardly, thus urging the knurled cylinder towards the base 26 of the feeding mechanism. The feeding and cutting mechanism has a narrow slot 28 extending therethrough through which the end 29 of the tape 8 extends. The cylinder 22 presses that tape towards the base 26 of the feeding and cutting mechanism. A knife 30 is pivotally mounted on the mechanism 20 about a shaft 3! so that itscutting edge rides over the surface 32 of the feeding mechanism to cut the end of the tape. The knif 30 includes a handle portion 33. A spring 34 constantly urges the knife 30 upwardly. The cylinder 22 has a shaft 35 secured thereto to which is secured a knurled nut 36 so that upon turning of the nut 36 the cylinder 22 is rotated.

The end of the tape from the roll 8 is passed through the slot 28, under the cylinder or roller 22, and out through the front of the feeding and cutting mechanism. The pressure of the springs 25 maintains th roller 22 constantly in pressure engagement with the tape.

The tape 8 may be of any desired width, although I have found that a half inch width is generally preferred. The tape consists of a piece of cloth or other type of fabric, the surface 4| of which has been coated with a thermo-plastic cementitious material which, when subjected to intense heat of the iron, will become tacky. The cementitious material may be a rubber cement or it may be a thermo-plastic material which is rendered tacky at the temperatures encountered in pressing operations and, upon cooling,'re-

'sumes its non-tacky form.

An iron to which the present invention has been attached may be used in the usual manner. Assume that the operator is, for instance, pressing a shirt, a part of which is ripped and requiresmending. Until the ripped or torn part is encountered the flat iron is used in its usual manner, the surface I8 riding above and out of contact with the shirt or other garment as the iron is used. When the operator comes to the part of the garment that requires mending the operator turns the nut 35 to rotate the cylinder 22 to advance the tape through the slot 28 forward of the surface 22. The operator may then pull the edge of the tape through the feeding and cutting apparatus towards the tip 3 of the flat iron and lay it gummed side down on the part of the shirt to be mended. The tip 3 of the flat iron is then placed over the tape. The iron is then slowly moved along, thus pressing the tape into pressure engagement with the garment and at the same time subjecting the tape to s'ufiicient heat to cause the gummed side of the tapeto become tacky. As the iron is advanced it draws more and more of the tape through the feeding and cutting apparatus 20. When the iron has been advanced so that the tape covers the entire ripped portion of the' garment the operator merely swings the knife handle 33 in a direction counter-clockwise as seen in Figure 5, to out off the end of the tape, and then continues the iron ing operation. When the tape cools, the cementitious coating loses its tackiness and permanently bonds the tape to the garment, thus mending the rip in the garment.

It is to be'noted that, the feeding and cutting apparatus is out of contact with the foremost part of the iron and thus is not subjected to excessive heating.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have here shown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is, however, to be understood, that the invention is not limited to the precise construction here shown, the same being merely illustrative of the principles of the invention. What I consider new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

I claim:

1. In combination, an electrically heated pressing iron having a flat bottom pressing surface, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, and means for guiding the end of the tape to a position adjacent to but spaced from the lower forward end of the iron.

2. In combination with an electrically heated pressing iron, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, manually operated means for moving the end of the tape to a position adjacent to but spaced from the lower forward end of the iron, and means for cutting the tape adjacent to but spaced from the lower forward end of the iron.

3. In combination with a heated pressing iron having a fiat bottom pressing surface, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, manually operated means for moving the end of the tape to a position adjacent to but spaced from a lower end of the iron, said moving means including a manually operable roller exerting a pressure against the tape whereby the tape is held by friction against free advance but may be pulled forward and whereby turning of the roller advances the free end of the tape.

4. 'In combination with a pressing iron having an electrically heated flat bottom pressing surface, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, means for guiding the end of the tape to a position adjacent to but spaced from a lower end of the iron, said guiding means including a roller exerting a pressure against the tape whereby the tape is held by friction against free advance but may be pulled forward and whereby turning of the roller advances the free end of the tape, manually operated means for turning the roller, and means for cutting the tape adjacent to but spaced from the lower end of the iron.

5. In combination with a pressing iron having a flat bottom pressing surface and means for heating the same, said pressing surface tapering to a minimum width at the front of the pressing surface for guiding the iron, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, means for guiding the end of the tape to a position adjacent to and forward of the narrowed part of the pressing surface and at the center of the narrowed part of the pressing surface.

6. In combination with a pressing iron having a flat bottom pressing surface and means for heating the same said pressing surface tapering to a minimum width at the front of the iron for guiding the iron, means on the iron for holding a length of mending tape, a tape moving roller exerting a friction pressure against the tape so that upon turning of the roller the tape is advanced to be positioned beneath the forward end of the iron, the frictional pressure of the roller on the tape being insufficient to prevent pulling of the tape past the roller, a cutter positioned between the roller and the forward part of the pressing surface of the iron for cutting the tape, said roller and cutter being adjacent to but spaced from and above the pressing surface of the iron in a position out of interference with the ordinary pressing and smoothing operations of the iron, and manual means for turning the roller to advance the edge of the tape after cutting thereof.

CHAS. PATASNIK. 

